Pat Cummins handed the ball to Scott Boland for the sixth over of India’s second innings. Thanks largely to a starburst of strokes from Yashasvi Jaiswal in Mitchell Starc’s opening over, the tourists were already leading by 37 runs.
To this point, even allowing for an injury and trip to hospital for Jasprit Bumrah, it had been very much India’s day.
Scott Boland gets Virat Kohli again.Credit: Getty Images
Still channelling the anger somehow generated by Sam Konstas not respecting his elders, they rattled through an Australian batting order that was grateful for the reinforcement provided by the sublimely composed Beau Webster.
And with Starc sore and Cummins having bowled more overs than anyone else on either side, Jaiswal’s early attack threatened to put space between the teams in much the same way he had done in Perth.
Boland, though, has had a tendency to make an instant impact this series whenever Cummins calls on him. His first ball seamed violently across Jaiswal, immediately putting doubt in the young opener’s mind.
In is second over a similar delivery was used to cut back through the right-handed K.L. Rahul, after being full enough to tempt a drive. Australia, momentarily wondering where the game might be headed, now locked in behind Boland.
So sharp was the seam movement for Boland that he moved around the wicket to Jaiswal, and soon found a delivery that straightened from the line of middle and off to beat a defensive blade and take the top of off. A demon ball for Jaiswal, a collector’s item for Boland.
That wicket, in fact, demonstrated why Boland has been so incredibly effective. As pointed out by analyst Jarrod Kimber on Good Areas, Boland’s combination of seam, bounce, enough pace and a super accurate line has made him the most difficult pace bowler to defend against in world cricket over the past couple of years.
When batters try to defend Boland, he takes a wicket every 48 balls or so. In effect, this means an opponent’s attempts to mitigate risk are actually increasing them as far as Boland is concerned.
That brings us to Virat Kohli. In his last innings for the series and final knock in Tests in Australia, Kohli looked determined to have an impact. Rohit Sharma’s omission for the game made Kohli quasi-captain with Bumrah off the field, and his demonstrative wicket celebrations – particularly at Konstas – showed how keyed-in he was.
But there is something involuntary about Kohli’s desire to feel bat on ball around the sixth stump. No one is better-equipped to expose that compulsion than Boland on a seaming surface.
So well, in fact, did Boland know what to send down to Kohli that he more or less bowled an exact replica of the delivery that had defeated him on day one: Per CricViz, it was virtually the same speed, landed in very nearly the same spot, and seamed almost exactly the same amount away from the bat. No wonder Kohli yelled in frustration as he turned towards the old pavilion.
At this stage there was some danger of India folding in the same fashion as Pakistan this time last year, when Josh Hazlewood turned a tightly fought SCG Test match into a farewell doddle for the retiring David Warner.
But if there is one way to reduce Boland’s effectiveness it is to take risks and attack. Rishabh Pant, apparently freed from day one orders to defend for his life, crushed his first ball down the ground for six. Boland put his next ball past the outside edge, but Rishabh still proceeded to race to 50 in 29 breathtaking balls.
Rishabh Pant can score anywhere around the ground.Credit: AP
This innings was the kind of hurricane that Rishabh’s surgeon Dinshaw Pardiwala had predicted when retelling the story of his extraordinary escape from a car accident in 2023. Australia, after all, had been a major focus of Rishabh’s recovery.
His free-swinging shots both down the ground and to the leg side, briefly gave the Australians pause. Not knowing whether Bumrah will be fit to bowl in the final innings on a dicey surface, the game’s variable outcomes now grew wide.
Cummins, however, had been granted the chance to rest due to Boland’s supremacy. Duly refreshed for a final spell in the final hour, his second ball climbed a little more than Rishabh expected, and the edge disappeared into Alex Carey’s gloves.
Nitish Kumar Reddy, a big contributor to the series, then miscued Boland to Cummins at mid-off and the game had swerved back to Australia. Webster, who had nipped out Shubman Gill for his first Test wicket, should have also pouched Ravindra Jadeja, only for Steve Smith to dive in front of Usman Khawaja and parry the chance away.
Nevertheless, Boland’s eight wickets for the Test so far have kept the Australians from surrendering their chances of winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade. Should he lift the trophy on Sunday, Cummins’ first glance of recognition may well be towards the understated Victorian.
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